In this text we discuss the pedagogical project and its relationship to the autonomous management of the school. Five years have elapsed since the sanctioning of the LDB 9394/96 (Education Principles and Guidelines Act), which establishes pedagogical autonomy and community participation in the management of school, arising our interest in investigating autonomy as a social practice. How does the autonomy granted contribute to the preservation and/or modification of established practices at school? At the same time that the standardized/legalized pedagogical project imposes strict controls over the work carried out at school, concrete conditions for alternative practices emerge, affirming autonomy not as an abstract universality, but as a concrete and historically constituted autonomy. The fieldwork was carried out in 37 schools from the São Paulo City municipal network. During 1999 and 2000 the technical teams from these schools -- principals, their assistants, and pedagogical coordinators -- responded to a questionnaire and participated in four meetings whose purpose was to reflect on the establishment and/or implementation of the pedagogical project at each of those schools. The information gathered suggest the absence of a public reference for the construction of the ethical horizon indicated in the pedagogical project. The construction and implementation of the pedagogical project at schools reflect much more the search for immediate solutions to the serious problems that affect the school's everyday life. Results also suggest that what is referred to as the school's autonomy turns out to be the autonomy of the school's more active group of educators.
Education; Education policy; Political-pedagogical project